bigglesfandomcom-20200215-history
General Bethstein
In Biggles Goes to War, General Bethstein was the Commander-in-Chief of the Maltovian Army at the time when Biggles was there to help start up the Maltovian Air Force. The General was on hand to meet Biggles, Algy and Ginger when they first arrived and made no secret of the fact that he did not welcome their presence. He had just seen Biggles and friends being attacked by a superior force of Lovitzna fighters. Biggles, Algy and Ginger had driven off the attackers and had claimed two aerial kills for no loss. Despite the fact that the attack had been unprovoked, had taken place over Maltovian territory and had resulted in a victory for Maltovia, General Bethstein appeared unhappy and demanded to know why Biggles had chosen to start a war which the country was anxious to avoid. The General's hostility led Biggles to suspect that the General was not altogether reliable. He got confirmation of this when Princess Mariana, Maltovia's titular ruler, met him incognito and gave him some background on Bethstein. According to the Princess, Bethstein had been a contender for the top army post but she did not trust him as she found him too ambitious. So she had appointed General Otto von Nerthold to the supreme command instead. Bethstein then travelled abroad for a while. From Ludwig Stanhauser, Biggles also learnt that Bethstein began to recruit foreign mercenaries into positions in the army. Ostensibly this was to modernise the army on European lines but it was believed that he did this to gather a group of officers who would be loyal to him. According to Ludwig, the rank-and-file in the army disliked him. Shortly before Biggles' arrival in Maltovia, General von Nerthold was assassinated. Thereafter, according to the Princess, the Bethstein "appointed himself" the commander-in-chief. By way of promises of favours, he had amassed enough votes to win himself the appointment. The Princess, whose powers were limited by the constitution, had little say in the matter. Biggles' doubts were confirmed when he caught one of the General's staff officers, Colonel Menkhoff setting fire to his hangar. To circumscribe the General, Biggles suggested to Princess Mariana, through Ludwig Stanhauser, to form a Ministry of Defence to be headed by Count Max Stanhauser whom she had complete trust in. The General would have to act in ompliance with the direction of the ministry or show his disloyalty openly. The Princess agreed and took immediate steps to implement this. Biggles, on his part, began to operate with increasing success against Lovitzna forces, first capturing two bombers, blowing up the Nieper bridge and then successfully rescuing Count Stanhauser after he had been tricked and kidnapped by Lovitzna. However these developments forced the General to speed up his own plans. When Biggles and friends returned from rescuing Stanhauser, Bethstein sent his staff officer Vilmsky to arrest Biggles and Algy. He gave them a mock trial and then swiftly sentenced them to be shot by a firing squad. Ginger had avoided arrest but he found out from Ludwig that while the Princess would help, she and Count Stanhauser were preoccupied with dealing with an impending coup which Bethstein was planning. Ginger thus decided he must go after the General to secure the release of Biggles and Algy. As Ludwig thought that the General would have retired to his hunting box in the countryside, Ginger and Ludwig made their way there. They arrived in time to see Bethstein meet Prince Paul Zarovitch of Lovitzna who had just flown in by air. Believing that this was a good time to nip the entire conspiracy in the bud, Ginger sent Ludwig off to fetch reinforcements. Ginger then captured Zarovitch as he emerged from his meeting with Bethstein, and soon after, Ludwig returned with Count Stanhauser at the head of a large force of loyal troops. The Count proceeded to arrest Bethstein. However, the General still had one last card to play--he told Ginger that he had earlier sentenced Biggles to be shot at dawn--only thirty minutes away. With no telephone, there appeared no way to get the execution stopped, but as Biggles had earlier said of the General, he was no airman and did not appreciate the uses of air power. Count Stanhauser forced the General to sign an order countermanding the execution. Ginger then used Zarovitch's aircraft to drop the message into the execution square just in time. The papers which Zarovitch had with him at his capture by Ginger proved more than sufficient to incriminate Bethstein. Among other things, Bethstein had promised to assist in the takeover of Maltovia by Lovitzna. Maltovia was thereafter to be a dependency of her more powerful neighbour and Bethstein was to be the governor-general. At the end of the book, Bethstein was tried and found guilty of high treason and executed. Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:Interwar era characters